Apparatus and method for joining sheets of woven material

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are an apparatus and method for joining sheets of woven material such as wire cloth in side-by-side relation to form a unitary sheet of material having a greater width. In accordance with one preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes a joining mechanism for joining the multiple sheets to form a unitary sheet, and optionally, either or both of a planarizing mechanism for reducing (or eliminating) differences in the thickness of the joint(s) from the bulk of the unitary sheet and a coating mechanism for coating at least areas of the unitary sheet near a joint. Following processing, the unitary sheet can be wound on a spindle to form a roll of woven material having greater than standard width.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates in general to apparatus and methodsfor joining sheets of material and, in particular, to apparatus andmethods for joining two or more sheets of woven material to form a sheetof greater width or length.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Wire cloth (also referred to as wire mesh) is a fabric formed byweaving strands of wire. Although other materials may be employed, thewires comprising the wire cloth are typically made of common metals,such as steel, stainless steel, copper, aluminum, nickel, or theiralloys. The selection of the wire material depends upon the intended useof the wire cloth, environmental concerns such as corrosion, abrasionand heat resistance or use of the wire material in food production, andsuitability of the wire material for secondary processing such aswelding, forming, and applying coatings.

[0005] Wire cloth has a broad range of commercial, residential andindustrial applications, including clarification, classification,cleaning, containment, conveying, declumping, dewatering, excluding,extraction, filtering, retention, purification, screen printing,security, separating, sieving, sifting, sizing, sorting, washing andwindow and door screening. To satisfy the size requirements of thesevaried applications, wire cloth is manufactured in a number of standardroll widths: 24 inches, 36 inches, 39.37 inches (1 meter), 48 inches, 60inches and 72 inches.

[0006] Although these standard wire cloth roll widths are suitable formost applications, some applications require wire cloth having a widthexceeding 72 inches. For example, co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.09/224,419, discloses that wire cloth may be utilized as an intrusionbarrier to exclude rodents and other relatively large pests from theinterior of above-ground structures, such as pier-and-beam structures,barracks, warehouses, portable storage buildings and manufactured homes.For the intrusion barrier to be effective, it should be substantiallycontinuous and underlie the entire area of the footprint of thestructure. Thus, the intrusion barrier would preferably be formed of asingle width of wire cloth that is at least as wide as the narrowestdimension of the structure to be protected, which may be 10 or 20 feetor more.

[0007] Other applications have recognized the need to join the free endsof wire cloth. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 309,658 to Sinclair, U.S. Pat.No. 372,335 to Sellers, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,570 to Svensson alldisclose the need to join the free ends of a single width of wire clothto form a cylinder dryer for a paper making machine. Svensson teachesthe use of an endless wire screw and locking wire to secure the loopedends of the wire cloth to form a cylinder, while Sinclair and Sellersteach joining the ends of wire cloth by sewing the ends togetherutilizing a wire thread. As will be appreciated, apparatus and methodsfor joining ends of wire cloth such as disclosed by Sellers, Sinclairand Svensson, while suitable for producing a mesh form suitable forparticular applications, are not generally employed to production ofbulk rolls of wire cloth having greater than standard widths.

[0008] Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method forproducing wire cloths rolls having greater than standard widths orlengths.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention provides an apparatus and method forjoining sheets of woven material such as wire cloth in to form a unitarysheet of material having a greater width or length. In accordance withone preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatusincludes a joining mechanism for joining the multiple sheets to form aunitary sheet, and optionally, either or both of a planarizing mechanismfor reducing (or eliminating) differences in the thickness of thejoint(s) from the bulk of the unitary sheet and a coating mechanism forcoating at least areas of the unitary sheet near a joint. Followingprocessing, the unitary sheet is wound on a spindle to form a roll ofwoven material having greater than standard width.

[0010] Additional objects, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following detailed writtendescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The novel features believed characteristic of the invention areset forth in the appended claims. The invention itself however, as wellas a preferred mode of use, further objects and advantages thereof, willbest be understood by reference to the following detailed description ofan illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

[0012]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an apparatus for joining wire clothin accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0013]FIG. 2A illustrates a detailed schematic of a joining mechanismfor sewing wire cloth sheets together utilizing wire thread or othersuitable material;

[0014]FIG. 2B depicts a detailed schematic of a joining mechanism forjoining wire cloth sheets together utilizing staples;

[0015]FIGS. 2C and 2D illustrate detailed schematics of joiningmechanisms for joining wire cloth sheets together utilizing fluid andtape adhesives;

[0016]FIG. 2E depicts a detailed schematic of a joining mechanism forjoining wire cloth sheets together by welding;

[0017]FIGS. 2F and 2G together illustrate the formation of aninterlocking joint between wire cloth sheets; and

[0018]FIG. 3 depicts a roller arrangement that may be utilized toprepare the raw edges of wire cloth sheets for joining.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0019] With reference now to the figures and in particular withreference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a high-level perspective viewof an apparatus for joining widths of wire cloth in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention. As depicted, apparatus 10includes a support rack 12 that supports two or more supply rolls 14 ofconvolute wire cloth, as shown in detail at reference numeral 16. Eachsupply roll 14 may have any width, but widths of standard rollstypically range between 24 and 72 inches, as noted above. Support rack12 preferably supports at least some supply rolls 14 at differing axialalignments so that the raw edges of multiple sheets 18 a, 18 b of wirecloth will not snag or interfere as they are payed out. In analternative embodiment of the present invention (not illustrated),support rack 12 can be eliminated, and sheets 18 can be receiveddirectly from looms for weaving wire cloth.

[0020] The multiple wire cloth sheets 18 are unwound from supply rolls14 and drawn into apparatus 10 by a feeding and alignment mechanism.Exemplary feeding and alignment mechanisms include a series ofmotor-driven rollers 20 or belts (not illustrated), which can betoothed, studded, or otherwise textured to provide enhanced grip on wirecloth sheets 18. The feeding and alignment mechanism aligns the edges ofwire cloth sheets 18 so that they closely abut or overlap as wire clothsheets 18 are fed into joining mechanism 22. The feeding and alignmentmechanism maintains wire cloth sheets 18 in proper alignment prior to,during and after joining.

[0021] Joining mechanism 22 can employ any of variety of differentjoining techniques to join wire cloth sheets 18 side-by-side to form aunitary wire cloth sheet 24 having a width greater than any one of wirecloth sheets 18. Exemplary joining techniques include withoutlimitation:

[0022] (1) sewing wire cloth sheets 18 together utilizing wire thread;

[0023] (2) binding the edges of wire cloth sheets 18 utilizing staplesor other discrete joining elements;

[0024] (3) adhering the edges of wire cloth sheets 18 utilizing anadhesive;

[0025] (4) continuous or spot welding;

[0026] (5) metalizing; and/or

[0027] (5) lapping and folding.

[0028] Further details regarding embodiments of joining mechanism aredescribed below with reference to FIGS. 2A-2E.

[0029] Because the joining technique employed by joining mechanism 22may produce one or more joints in the resulting unitary wire cloth sheet24 having a greater thickness than the bulk of the wire cloth, apparatus10 preferably includes a planarizing mechanism 26 that flattens thejoint(s) to a thickness substantially equal to the nominal thickness ofwire cloth sheets 18. As will be appreciated, the desired resultantthickness will vary depending upon the gauge of the wires forming wirecloth sheets 18. For example, 2 Mesh industrial hardware cloth, which iswoven from 19 gauge wire and then galvanized, has a nominal thickness of0.0410 in. or 1.04 mm, while 4 Mesh industrial hardware cloth, which iswoven from 23 gauge wire and then galvanized, has a nominal thickness of0.0258 in. or 0.66 mm. In the illustrated embodiment, planarizingmechanism 26 includes a pair of opposed rollers 26 a and 26 b throughwhich unitary wire cloth sheet 24 is drawn. Although illustrated assuch, rollers 26 a and 26 b are not required to extend the full width ofwire cloth sheet 24, but maybe only as wide as the join area. In analternative embodiment, planarizing mechanism 26 can be implemented as astamping or press machine that compresses the join area to reduce itsthickness.

[0030] Following planarization, unitary wire cloth sheet 24 is fed intoan optional coating mechanism 28 that applies a corrosion-resistantcoating to unitary wire cloth sheet 24, when the end application of wirecloth sheet 24 calls for additional corrosion resistance. Thecorrosion-resistant coating applied to unitary wire cloth sheet 24 caninclude, without limitation, galvanization (i.e., zinc), zinc chromate,plastic (e.g., vinyl), or an anodized or spray powder coating. As willbe appreciated by those skilled in the art, such coatings are appliedeither by immersing the wire cloth in a bath of liquid (e.g., moltenzinc or plastic), by spraying on the coating utilizing a pressurizeddelivery system, or by an applicator such as a roller. Importantly, forspray and applied coatings, the coating may be limited to only thejoint(s) and surrounding portions of unitary wire cloth sheet 24, whichwould be advantageous if the remainder of the wire cloth already hasgalvanization or other corrosion-resistant coating applied. Followingapplication of the corrosion-resistant coating, unitary wire cloth sheet24 is wound around a spindle 34 driven by a motor 32 to form a receivingroll 30 having wider than standard width.

[0031] Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2E, there are depicted views of variousexemplary embodiments of joining mechanism 22 in accordance with thepresent invention. Referring first to FIG. 2A, there is depicted a moredetailed schematic of a joining mechanism 22 for sewing wire clothsheets 18 together utilizing thread made of metal wire or other suitablematerial. As shown, wire cloth sheets 18 a and 18 b are advanced intojoining mechanism 22 by the feeding and alignment mechanism along thedirection of arrow 50 with their raw edges closely aligned oroverlapping. A motor 52 drives a reciprocating arm 54 up and down tomove a needle 56 threaded with a lacing wire 58 in an appropriatepattern (e.g., zigzag) to stitch wire cloth sheets 18 a and 18 btogether. As will be appreciated, any number of stitch patterns may beemployed, depending upon the flexibility and strength requirements ofthe intended application.

[0032] With reference now to FIG. 2B, there is illustrated a moredetailed schematic of a joining mechanism 22 for joining wire clothsheets 18 together utilizing staples. As depicted, wire cloth sheets 18a and 18 b are advanced into joining mechanism 22 by the feeding andalignment mechanism along the direction of arrow 50 with their raw edgesclosely aligned or overlapping. A motor 60 drives a reciprocating arm 62terminated by a stapling head 63 into an opposed shoe 66. As appreciatedby those skilled in the art, the contact of stapling head 63 with wirecloth sheets 18 actuates stapling head 63 to drive a staple 64 throughboth wire cloth sheets 18, thereby joining them to form unitary wirecloth sheet 24.

[0033] Referring now to FIG. 2C, there is depicted a more detailedschematic of a joining mechanism 22 for joining the abutted oroverlapping edges of wire cloth sheets 18 together utilizing a fluidadhesive. In the depicted embodiment, wire cloth sheets 18 a and 18 bare advanced into joining mechanism 22 by the feeding and alignmentmechanism along the direction of arrow 50 with their raw edgesoverlapping to form an overlapping region 74. An adhesive dispenser 70dispenses either a continuous bead or discontinuous dots of a fluidadhesive 72 suitable for bonding metal within overlapping region 74.Adhesive 72 can be applied prior to or after overlapping wire clothsheets 18. If adhesive 72 is applied after overlapping, adhesive 72flows through the spaces in the upper wire cloth sheet 18 b and adheresit to lower wire cloth sheet 18 a to form unitary wire cloth sheet 24.

[0034] In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 2D, the adhesive canalternatively be implemented as an adhesive tape 72′, such as anadhesive-backed Kevlar® tape, that is applied by joining mechanism 22 tojoin wire cloth sheets 18 that are overlapped, or more preferably,butted together. As will be appreciated, one advantage of utilizing anadhesive tape 72′ to join wire cloth sheets 18 is the ability to joinwire cloth sheets 18 on a job site to form a unitary sheet 24 sized tomeet the needs of a particular application.

[0035] With reference now to FIG. 2E, there is illustrated a moredetailed schematic of a joining mechanism 22 for joining wire clothsheets 18 by continuous or spot welding. In the illustrated embodiment,wire cloth sheets 18 a and 18 b are advanced into joining mechanism 22by the feeding and alignment mechanism along the direction of arrow 50with their raw edges slightly overlapping to form an overlapping region80. A welding rod or wire 82 can then be utilized to create a continuousweld 84 and/or multiple spot welds 86 between wire cloth sheets 18 a and18 b in order to form unitary wire cloth sheet 24. In alternativeembodiments, the welding may be performed in a controlled atmosphere inwhich selected gases are introduced (i.e., plasma welding) or bymetalizing (i.e., blowing molten metal into the join area to bond toboth wire cloth sheets 18). In addition, the weld may alternatively beformed by laying in a wire across weft wires extending outwardly at theraw edges of wire cloth sheets 18 a and 18 b and welding the laid inwire to both wire cloth sheets 18.

[0036] Referring now to FIGS. 2F and 2G, the formation of aninterlocking joint between wire cloth sheets 18 is depicted in detail.As shown, each of wire cloth sheets 18 a and 18 b is formed from aplurality of warp wires 100 and a plurality of weft wires 102. To formthe interlocking joint, the weft wires 102 adjacent raw edge(s) 104 ofat least one (and preferably both) of wire cloth sheets 18 are bent atan angle (e.g., between 10° and 150°) with respect to the planecontaining the bulk of wire cloth sheets 18. FIG. 3 illustrates anarrangement of rollers that can be utilized to bend weft wires 102extending from the raw edges of wire cloth sheets 18 as shown in FIG.2F.

[0037] In FIG. 3, a wire cloth sheet 18 comprising warp wires 100 andweft wires 102 is advanced in the direction of arrow 110 between a pairof rollers 112 and 118 that form a portion of the feeding and alignmentmechanism. As shown, one or both of rollers 112 and 118 may have teeth114 distributed thereon to assist in aligning wire cloth sheet 18 suchthat weft wires 102 at a raw edge of wire cloth sheet 18 extend over anangled surface 116 of roller 112 aligned with the surface of roller 118.In this manner, weft wires 102 at raw edges 104 of wire cloth sheets 18may be bent upwards or downwards relative to the bulk of wire clothsheets 18, as shown, for example, in FIG. 2F. This preparation of rawedges 104 may be utilized not only to form an interlocking joint betweenwire cloth sheets 18 (as discussed further below), but also to reducethe entanglement of raw edges 104 during the alignment of wire clothsheets 18 prior to joining utilizing one of the methods illustrated inFIGS. 2A-2E. However, if one of the joining methods illustrated in FIGS.2A-2E is employed, it may be preferable to bend weft wires 102 of eachof wire cloth sheets 18 a and 18 b in the same direction (i.e., bothupwards or both downwards).

[0038] Referring now to FIG. 2G, after raw edges 104 of wire clothsheets 18 a and 18 b are prepared in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2F,the feeding and alignment mechanism preferably brings wire cloth sheets18 a and 18 b into alignment such that weft wires 102 of wire clothsheet 18 a pass under at least one warp wire 100 of wire cloth sheet 18b and extend upwardly through spaces in wire cloth sheet 18 b.Similarly, weft wires 102 of wire cloth sheet 18 b pass over at leastone warp wire 100 of wire cloth sheet 18 a and extend downwardly throughspaces in wire cloth sheet 18 a. With the bent weft wires 102 of eachwire cloth sheet 18 interlaced in this way with the other wire clothsheet 18, a unitary wire cloth sheet 24 is formed. To prevent the jointfrom coming undone, planarizing mechanism 28 (or an additional set ofrollers) may be utilized to bend weft wires 102 to near 180°, thuslocking the ends of the weft wires 102 of each sheet 18 around at leastone warp wire 100 of the other sheet 18 to form an interlocking joint.

[0039] As has been described, the present invention provides anapparatus for joining sheets of woven material such as wire cloth inside-by-side relation to form a unitary sheet of material having agreater width (or length). In accordance with one preferred embodimentof the present invention, the apparatus includes a joining mechanism forjoining the multiple sheets to form a unitary sheet, and optionally,either or both of a planarizing mechanism for reducing (or eliminating)differences in the thickness of the joint(s) from the bulk of theunitary sheet and a coating mechanism for coating at least areas of theunitary sheet at and/or near a joint. Following processing, the unitarysheet can be wound to form a roll of woven material having greater thanstandard width.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for joining sheets of woven wirematerial side-by-side, said apparatus comprising: a feeding andalignment mechanism that continuously feeds a plurality of sheets ofwoven wire material and aligns the plurality of sheets of woven wirematerial in side-by-side relation; and a joining mechanism that joinsthe plurality of sheets of woven wire material side-by-side to form aunitary sheet of woven wire material.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, andfurther comprising a support rack that supports a plurality of supplyrolls of woven wire material from which the plurality of sheets areunwound.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprising a spindleupon which said unitary sheet is wound.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the joining mechanism comprises means for stitching theplurality of sheets together.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thejoining mechanism comprises means for stapling the plurality of sheetstogether.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the joining mechanismcomprises means for adhering the plurality of sheets together.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the joining mechanism comprises means forwelding the plurality of sheets together.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein each of said plurality of sheets includes warp wires and weftwires, wherein the joining mechanism comprises means for forming aninterlocking joint in which weft wires of at least one of said pluralityof sheets are hooked around at least one warp wire of another of saidplurality of sheets.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprisinga coating mechanism that coats at least a portion of the unitary sheetwith a corrosion-resistant coating.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the coating mechanism comprises a sprayer.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the coating mechanism comprises a bath through whichthe unitary sheet is drawn.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1, and furthercomprising a planarizing mechanism that planarizes the unitary sheetsuch that a thickness of the unitary sheet at a joint region is reduced.13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the planarizing mechanismcomprises a plurality of opposed rollers.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the planarizing mechanism reduces the thickness at the jointregion to substantially an original thickness of one of said pluralityof sheets.
 15. A method of joining sheets of woven wire materialside-by-side, said method comprising: continuously feeding a pluralityof sheets of woven wire material and aligning the plurality of sheets ofwoven wire material in side-by-side relation; and joining the pluralityof sheets of woven wire material side-by-side to form a unitary sheet ofwoven wire material.
 16. The method of claim 15, and further comprisingsupporting a plurality of supply rolls of woven wire material utilizinga supply rack, wherein the plurality of sheets are fed from theplurality of supply rolls supported by the supply rack.
 17. The methodof claim 15, and further comprising winding the unitary sheet about aspindle to form a receiving roll.
 18. The method of claim 15, whereinjoining the plurality of sheets comprises stitching the plurality ofsheets together.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein joining theplurality of sheets comprises stapling the plurality of sheets together.20. The method of claim 15, wherein joining the plurality of sheetscomprises adhering the plurality of sheets together.
 21. The method ofclaim 15, wherein joining the plurality of sheets comprises welding theplurality of sheets together.
 22. The method of claim 15, wherein eachof said plurality of sheets includes warp wires and weft wires, whereinjoining the plurality of sheets comprises forming an interlocking jointin which weft wires of at least one of said plurality of sheets arehooked around at least one warp wire of another of said plurality ofsheets.
 23. The method of claim 15, and further comprising coating atleast a portion of the unitary sheet with a corrosion-resistant coating.24. The method of claim 23, wherein coating comprises applying a spraycoating.
 25. The method of claim 23, wherein coating comprises drawingsaid unitary sheet through a bath.
 26. The method of claim 15, andfurther comprising planarizing the unitary sheet such that a thicknessof the unitary sheet at a joint region is reduced.
 27. The method ofclaim 26, wherein planarizing comprises planarizing utilizing aplurality of opposed rollers.
 28. The method of claim 26, whereinplanarizing reduces a thickness at the joint region to substantially anoriginal thickness of one of said plurality of sheets.